Preliminary results, 2011 Plainfield Democratic primary

Colonial-era ballot box.

Preliminary results in the 2011 Plainfield Democratic primary (number will change with the addition of absentee ballot tallies from the County Clerk's office).

2011 Plainfield Democratic Primary
Ward 2	Tally
Cory STORCH	589
Tony RUCKER	447
Wards 1/4
Dee DAMERON	310
Vera GREAVES	580

The newly elected Democratic City Committee reorganizes next Monday evening, with the election of a chairperson and other officers for the coming two years.

Plainfield City Council meets next Tuesday evening for its June agenda-setting session at 7:30 PM in City Hall Library.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Voter: I support those who support their mommies

Helping elderly parents who are financially overwhelmed is
something to be ashamed of, say Jerry Green and Vera Greaves.

 

A volunteer phoning on behalf of New Democrats for Plainfield candidates reported to me Monday evening that a woman in the First Ward was incensed about the Jerry Green and Vera Greaves mailer attacking Wards 1/4 candidate Dee Dameron for 'living at home with her mommy'.

'Honey,' the voter said, 'I support those who support their mommies'.

The voter went on to say that she herself had to make personal sacrifices so that her elderly parents could stay in their Plainfield home when the taxes became more than they could bear.

Assemblyman Green and his handpicked candidate for Wards 1/4, Vera Greaves, did themselves no favors by attacking Dee Dameron in this way. With taxes as high as they are and elderly people pushed to the limit, it is only praiseworthy to find adult children willing to sacrifice to help their parents.

One more reason to vote for Honest Ethical Leadership for Plainfield.

Vote today for Cory Storch (Ward 2) and Dee Dameron (Wards 1/4) and for your Dem city committee candidates, Column C all the way!

If you live in Ward 3, it is especially important to get out and vote for city committee candidates.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Campaign videos (brief): Cory Storch, Dee Dameron, The Green Team

Ethical...wouldn't that be nice?

Just what we need: Honest Ethical Leadership for Plainfield!

Check out these home-grown brief (about a minute each) vids of the candidates ... and The Green Team.

CORY STORCH

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DEE DAMERON

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THE GREEN TEAM

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Dan gets a flat tire, is it politics?

Two sharp pointy objects may be a coincidence. But three?

 

Are Plainfield politics getting physical?

Friends have teased me over the years that I should check under my car before starting it, especially after those times when I showed Assemblyman Jerry Green and Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs embarrassing themselves and Plainfield.

'Nah', sez I, 'this is America, ain't nobody gonna mess with somebody's right to free speech'.

Should I reconsider?

Sunday afternoon, I parked directly in front of City Hall while spending some time at the New Dems campaign headquarters (508 Watchung, where everyone is invited for the election returns tomorrow night -- it's next door to Blackberry's restaurant).

When I left, I drove to a convenience store to get a soda. Coming out of the store, I noticed my right rear tire seemed to be getting soft. The air pump at the store's gas station was out of service.

By the time I walked back to the car, the tire was flat. So, I pulled out the toy Toyota's dinky but serviceable jack, and exchanged the big flat tire for the tiny spare tire in the trunk.

When I pulled the flat off the axle, there were three perfectly spaced sharp metal objects puncturing the tire. Accidental?

In Plainfield, the weekend of a contested primary?

As I tidied up and started to get in the car to leave, a Union County cop parked next to me and ran into the convenience store briefly. Something about his squad car caught my attention.

Car 54, where were you?

Car 54, where were you when I needed you?

Meanwhile, I guess I have to start checking under my car before starting up the engine.

At least until Wednesday.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Final election push unusually sleazy, even by Green standards

Plainfielders are generally inured to mudslinging by Assemblyman Jerry Green in the final weekend of the primary campaign season.

This year may be an exception, however, as the Democratic City Committee chairperson decided to go after Cory Storch's daughter for having been a summer intern at the PMUA. (Green fails to mention that it was an intern's job, or that Storch was not in public office when his daughter became one of many students taken on for summer youth employment.)

Green's handpicked candidate, Tony Rucker, takes the road of 'plausible deniability' in his blog post today, saying 'it didn't come from my campaign'. (This is similar to the question of the Park Hotel residents urging votes for Rucker four years ago.)

Cory Storch answers Green and Rucker point by point, noting there is time for Rucker and Greaves to repudiate Green's attacks (see here).

Candidate Dee Dameron also addresses the Green mailer as one of desperation, detailing all she had done for Green and other Dem candidates in the past, only to be treated like this (see here).

Coucilor Rebecca Williams notes both Storch and Dameron have been models of poise amid all the savagery (see here).

Candidate Rucker tries to distance himself from the Green mailer (see here).

Nat Singleton's post has been taken down at the request of Councilor Storch (see here).

Meanwhile, the New Dems were chasing down rumors on Saturday that delivery of their mailings was being held up purposely at the Netherwood postal station, which serves  both the First and Second Wards.

For some, Wednesday can't come soon enough.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rucker, Green, New Dem mailings coming

From a New Dems mailing.

As Plainfield's Democratic primary careens into its final days (the election is next Tuesday), you can expect your mailbox to fill up with candidate mailings.

The first New Dem mailing, in support -- and giving an overview -- of candidates Cory Storch, 'Dee' Dameron and the fifty-five individuals running for seats on the Plainfield Democratic City hit resident mailboxes beginning Wednesday. A second mailing, contrasting the opposing sets of candidates, will start arriving in mailboxes today.

Assemblyman Jerry Green's mailing will portray New Democrats as 'Republicans', which I find laughable. The piece seems to be the same one Lesniak forces are using in Elizabeth, with some Plainfield-specific language being plugged in.

The Green mailing piece, paid for by his campaign committee, urges the election of Rucker and Greaves as well as Green himself. It appears to be the only mailing piece on which Green's handpicked Wards 1/4 candidate Vera Greaves appears. (For more on Green's selection of Greaves, see the Green video posted here).

Rucker's piece mimics a longstanding New Dems format (yes/no columns), and lists as reasons to vote against Storch the same items found in Mr. Eke's email (see here). Rucker characterizes himself as 'a Democrat with a backbone'.

Instead of a paragraph about himself, Rucker provides a list that includes a couple of items that left me scratching my head --

• 'Banker and Commercial Broker' -- Is this current or past? Just what IS a 'commercial broker'? A little clarity wouldn't hurt; and
  
  
• 'Member of the plainfield Housing Authority Committee' -- What does that mean? Whose committee is that? What does it do?

The real deal is the candidate forum which FOSH, under the leadership of its president Pat Turner Kavanaugh, put together this past Tuesday at Cook School.

The city's public access channel was on hand to tape it, in the person of PCTV Advisory Committee chair Lamar Mackson, and the complete unedited forum will be broadcast several times over the coming days on the city's Channels: Verizon 34 and Comcast 96 (see schedule on the Facebook page here).

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Is Burney author of Eke attack on Storch?

Properties sheet for PDF document details 'author', original title of document
and original date of composition.

 

In an attachment to an email evidently sent to members of Plainfield's Hillside Area Neighborhood Watch on Thursday, resident and Tony Rucker supporter Charles Eke outlined his 'concerns' about candidate Cory Storch and urged recipients to vote for Rucker.

I think Eke's 'concerns' are spurious and part of the usual campaign hyperbole (in which some even say I have engaged!) to be expected in the closing days.

Also intriguing is the peek I took at the information about the PDF document. The image at the top of the page indicates that the letter was composed on May 24, more than a week ago, evidently being held aside for what was considered a 'proper' moment.

It shows the document was composed in Microsoft Word with the original title of 'Charles Eke's personal letter'.

The author is simply listed as: 'Rashid'.

Could that be former Councilor Rashid Burney? Or some other Rashid?

No big deal; this is America, where free speech is a right, and political letters are often written in the name of a sender who is not the true author.

That being said, a number of recipients of the email apparently feel that the community group's email list should not have been used for a partisan political purpose, a sentiment with which I happen to agree.
 

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Jerry Green on how the Plainfield Democratic Party is run [video]

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A Plainfield Today reader has shared the link to a YouTube video of Plainfield Democratic City Committee chairperson Assemblyman Jerry Green chairing the meeting of the committee last January at which three names were selected to be offered to the Council in the process of filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Councilor Linda Carter, who became a Union County Freeholder January 1st.

Besides Chairman Green, other voices on the video are those of PDCC member (and Councilor) Rebecca Williams, and PDCC member Christian Estevez.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Tony Rucker, thief?

A copyright will protect you from PIRATES.

Tony Rucker, thief?

Seems so.

Rucker, Jerry Green's handpicked candidate for Plainfield's Ward 2 seat, has violated the copyright of a California composer in an attack video prepared for the Internet.

The video, which accuses candidate Cory Storch of being on the take from the PMUA, attacks the New Democrats, and characterizes the Plainfield Democratic City Committee as 'a New Democrats shell organization', features a dramatic and sinister-sounding musical background.

Tony's problem is that the music is lifted from a video by another Plainfielder, who LICENSED THE MUSIC FROM A CALIFORNIA COMPOSER, WHO HOLDS THE COPYRIGHT.

Rucker never sought permission or paid for the use of the copyrighted material.

The composer will file a complaint with the online video service later today (Thursday), demanding that the video be taken down.

What's the lesson in this for Plainfield voters?

Whether the misuse of copyrighted material was done ignorantly or on purpose, it underscores a loosey-goosey relationship Rucker has with facts and a shallow regard for the law.

Hardly characteristics one would endorse in a candidate for public office, don't you agree?

Should Tony's question be turned back on himself? Should Tony be accountable by Plainfield voters?

[NOTE: Anonymous comments have been turned back on. -- Dan]

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rucker needs to prove he's not lying about PMUA

Today, Rucker shows Storch with PMUA logos.

 

Who knew Tony Rucker, Jerry Green's candidate for the Ward 2 council seat, was such a fan of Nazi leader Adolph Hitler and his propaganda chief Josef Goebbels? Yet it seems that he is.

Goebbels, you will recall, elaborated on Hitler's 'Big Lie' concept, that if one tells a lie big enough and repeats it often enough, people will believe it (see more here).

Last Thursday, Rucker suggested Storch had taken money from the PMUA and that he had family members who had worked for the Authority.

Last night, Rucker said loudly, 'The PMUA gave Storch money...'

Today, he writes in his blog 'if you attended [last night's forum] you would have heard Cory Storch have to admit he took money from the PMUA' (see here).

It ain't so and sayin' so don't make it so, though it is outrageous and could qualify as a Hitler/Goebbels style 'Big Lie'.

So much for the 'high road' that Rucker's campaign manager  Dwayne Wilkins told me in an email the Rucker campaign would adhere to. (For rhetoric hounds, the device by which Rucker indirectly slimes Storch in the Thursday post is known as 'praeteritio' [see here and here], a means of making a subversive ad hominem attack, as in 'I've agreed not to mention that your brother is a serial killer and your sister an ax murderer, so let us focus on the real issues...')

I challenged Rucker immediately following last night's forum in a face-to-face conversation, telling him that his statement COULD NOT BE TRUE ON ITS FACE because the PMUA is prohibited by law from contributing to political candidates; no ethical candidate -- like Storch -- would accept such a contribution; and people who monitor misdeeds by public agencies would surely have found and publicized such a deed by this time (it allegedly happened in 2003, during Storch's first run for Council).

I said to him, 'If you're going to make statements like that, you better have specific facts to back them up.'

So, Mr. Rucker, to prove you are NOT lying about the PMUA contributing to Storch's campaign, produce the documentation, chapter and verse.

If you cannot produce the documentation, then apologize publicly to Storch (through your blog and a letter to the Courier would be nice).

I am disappointed that Rucker has chosen the Jerry Green-style low road, especially since he holds himself out as being a much better sort of candidate.

But then, he did the same thing in his losing run against Storch four years ago.

In that race, he alleged that Storch was trying to close the Park Hotel and throw its clients out in the street, leaving them homeless to shift for themselves.

That lie also wasn't true, but that didn't prevent Rucker from exploiting the Park Hotel's clients by paying them to sit outside polling places all day during the Primary with signs urging voters to cast ballots for Rucker and not Storch.

Rucker exploited Park Hotel residents to sit outside Evergreen School
on Primary Day, 2007 (photos courtesy Maria Pellum).

This exploited Park Hotel resident sat outside Cook School
on Primary Day 2007, urging votes for Rucker (photo courtesy Alexa Storch).

Seems his admiration for Goebbels is of long standing.

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• Wikipedia:  "Big Lie"
• Queen City Progressive --
• "Thursday, May 26, 2011"
• "Storch offers no denial at Cook School debate"
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE FORUM TONIGHT

City Council candidates for Ward 2  Cory Storch and Tony Rucker, as well as the candidates for the Wards 1/4 at-large seat,Vera Greaves and Dee Dameron, have been invited to participate in a candidate forum this evening, sponsored by the Friends of Sleepy Hollow (FOSH) and Hillside Area Neighborhood Watch (HANW).
 

7:00 PM, at the Cook School Auditorium.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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One Rucker/Greaves/Green campaign mystery solved?

What's with the inconsistency?

 

Several Plainfield Today readers have mentioned the disparity between the campaign signs of Tony Rucker and his running mates Assemblyman Jerry Green and Councilor Vera Greaves.

If you note above, Jerry's and Vera's signs have a consistent look, while Rucker's stands in contrast.

Hmmm. Why's that?

Is it a sign of that 'independence' from Jerry that his supporters claim? (See the comments on my blog post yesterday from Rucker supporters here.)

I was curious about that sign, and happened to catch some snaps yesterday on Belvidere Avenue in front of the home of the late Dr. Gerald Lee, one of Assemblyman Green's first appointments to the PMUA board.

Here are the pix.

The '7' looked a little odd.

Odd indeed! What's that about?

Here's what the other side looks like.

The '7' in the date caught my eye, because it was a bit wimpish in comparison to the rest of the text. Turns out it is taped over something else.

The other side of the sign revealed what the 'something else' is -- June 5.

Could the Rucker/Greaves/Green team have gotten the date right on two of their signs, but not the third? Did Jerry not check them before letting them be put out?

Is there another possibility?

How about this: Primary Day in Rucker's previous challenge of Storch was TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2007.

Could it be the signs are ... recycled?

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• Plainfield Today:  "Rucker's team is Jerry's team, with all that implies"

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rucker's team is Jerry's team, with all that implies

This is a team, folks, better not forget it.

Tony Rucker's blog post today opens by acknowledging my post of yesterday concerning Charles Eke's endorsement of Rucker and attack on the PMUA that appeared in yesterday's Courier (see my post here, Rucker's post here).

Rucker ignores Eke's proposal, leaving voters to wonder just where he stands on the matter of the PMUA; yes, we know it's expensive and needs reforming, but what is RUCKER going to do about it?

A careful reading (or two, or three) of Rucker's post can be helpful for those who have not yet made up their mind about who they will vote for June 7. First to see how clueless Rucker is about how city government really works and what the Council's role is.

But, more importantly for what Rucker leaves unsaid: that Rucker and his running mate Councilor Vera Greaves are Jerry's team, with all that implies.

Why doesn't Rucker declare his pride in being part of Assemblyman Green's handpicked team?

Here's a scenario for you.

Suppose Rucker and Greaves are elected and there is a proposal to dissolve the PMUA.

That would have to be done by an ORDINANCE, and could be passed by four votes. Would Rucker and Greaves vote to dissolve the PMUA?

If they did, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, that other handpicked Green teammate, would VETO it.

Overturning the veto would require FIVE votes, not just four. How would Rucker be accountable, avoid gridlock, and get the PMUA dissolved?

Or would he?

After all, being a part of 'the Green team' means following The Boss' lead.

And where does Jerry stand on the PMUA?


A NOTE ON COMMENTS: Your comments are valued, as always, but for the duration of the political campaign season I am turning off the 'anonymous' comments. This means only those who use an identity will be posted. If thousands of folks are being asked to consider voting for this or that candidate, I think the reader should know who is doing the advocating. Fair enough?

Being Jerry's teammate...and all that implies.

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• Plainfield Today:  "PMUA: Rejected PMUA nominee Eke attacks Storch"
• Queen City Progressive:  "Accountability or gridlock... What's your policy?"
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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PMUA: Rejected PMUA nominee Eke attacks Storch

Mr. Eke had no problems with New Democrats when Al McWilliams
was mayor, as shown here at the 2000 Ethfest.

Charles Eke, whom the Plainfield City Council declined to confirm to a seat as a PMUA commissioner after his nomination by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, has a letter to the editor in today's Courier attacking Cory Storch and endorsing Storch's opponent in the Democratic primary (see here).

I am rubbing my eyes with disbelief!

Is this the same Charles Eke who, as Mayor Robinson-Briggs' nominee for a PMUA commissioner's seat, came before the Council and in his public interview had NOTHING NEGATIVE TO SAY ABOUT THE PMUA (see Bernice's report in Plaintalker II here)? The record shows that Rev. Tracey Brown was the ONLY nominee who offered to look at the PMUA with a critical eye.

Is this the same Charles Eke who would have been eligible, as a Commissioner, for health benefits FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY and made no offer to forego same if appointed?

Is this the same Charles Eke whom I have never seen at a Council meeting except when his nomination was on the agenda for the evening? Whom I have never seen at a PMUA Commissioners meeting ever?

Is this the same Charles Eke who, after failing to be appointed, came to the February Council meeting to harangue the Council over his rejection, labeling those who failed to vote for him as 'unfit for public office' (see Bernice's report here).

Not only is this the same Charles Eke, he displays a level of ignorance about the Council's role which only confirms their sound judgment in not appointing him. Eke proposes --

...[t]he City Council could have taken bold steps towards reform of the PMUA. They could have put out the entire city's garbage collection out to bid. Let Waste Management, let Grand Sanitation and other garbage collection companies bid on this work. Let the PMUA bid on this work and may the best company win.That is the way I would have done it. That is the way any sound businessman would have done it. It's very clear...

Eke completely misunderstands the Council's power.

The Council has no authority whatsoever, given the agreement that established the PMUA, to 'put the city's garbage collection out to bid'.

It has jawboned the PMUA to no visible effect.

It can dissolve the PMUA agreement, but would need some findings of fact to do so -- which the task force to which Eke objects could report back to the Council as findings.

Eke only shows what an ignorant and foolhardy appointee he would have been.

As for Eke's endorsement of Storch's challenger, Tony Rucker, if Rucker doesn't publicly object to this idiotic proposal, you should chalk it up as one more reason to vote for Storch.

P.S.: In the 2009 City Committee races, in which Eke ran for a District seat against New Dem Kieran Anderson, he was beaten 127-23. Can this have anything to do with his antagonism toward the New Dems?

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• Courier, Letter to Editor: "Charles Eke: PMUA reforms moving too slowly"
• Plaintalker II --
• "Special meeting yields only one PMUA appointee"
• "Rejected PMUA candidate shows ire"
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Is Star-Ledger cat's-paw in Lesniak race?

As Lesniak faces tough race, unflattering article appears concerning his opponents. Coincidence?

Plainfield Today readers may think that the legislative race pitting incumbent Union County Sen. Ray Lesniak against an upstart challenger team including heavy hitters in Elizabeth school board politics has little to do with Plainfield.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Longtime king-of-the-hill Lesniak's law firm has a reputation for obtaining lucrative -- some would say rapaciously lucrative -- contracts from the Dem towns in sway to the Union County heavyweight.

(When Al McWilliams came into the mayor's office in 1998, Plainfield was looking at an $800,000 tab with Lesniak's firm. McWilliams refused to pay and eventually haggled it down to less than $200,000.)

The number of applicants coming before Plainfield's zoning and planning boards in recent years that use Lesniak's law firm would seem to defy the law of averages -- even though the Senator, who in the past supported Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' election said publicly he did not want any contracts with the City.

Now, a group opposing Lesniak and grounded in the 'other' Elizabeth machine -- the Elizabeth Board of Ed -- is coming under heavy attack as the primary campaign enters the home stretch.

The Star-Ledger featured a heavily-researched story on the Elizabeth school board's 'machine' in the banner front-page position in Sunday's edition (the most heavily-read issue each week), raising the question in my mind of whether it is a cat's-paw in Lesniak's game.

I find several things intriguing in the timing and placement of the story.

First, why didn't the Ledger do a beat-down back in April, when it was the SCHOOL BOARD that was up for grabs?

Second, every complaint in the story could repeated against the Union County Democratic machine, over which Sen. Lesniak exerts significant -- if not overwhelming -- control. But the Ledger has never run a similar story portraying Lesniak in an unflattering light as far as I an recall.

Things began to heat up earlier this month when PolitickerNJ noted that the state's teachers union, NJEA, was poised to endorse a split ticket in the race, picking Dunn over Lesniak (see here). At the time, PolitickerNJ included Lesniak's calling in of a chit from former President Bill Clinton by way of an endorsement in the current race.

On May 16th, PolitickerNJ found the upstarts had turned the tables on Lesniak, portraying him as 'living like a Republican' in a campaign mailing, as he had done of them in a previous campaign (see here).

By last Thursday, PolitickerNJ reported on questions about ELEC (the Election Law Enforcement Commission) filings, questioning where the challengers were getting the money for their mailing blitz (see here), fueled by a Lesniak complaint as it later turns out.

On Friday, PolitickerNJ reported Newark mayor Cory Booker and Jersey City mayor Jeremiah Healy had thrown their support behind Lesniak (see here).

Then Sunday comes the unflattering front-page Ledger story on Elizabeth school system politics.

And today, PolitickerNJ reports Union County Superior Court Judge William Wertheimer has frozen the challengers' accounts until a hearing on June 3 (the election is June 7) -- see that story here.

Though the challengers were able to report the NJEA's endorsement at a Saturday fundraiser at The Pines in Edison, earlier in the day the Elizabeth police arrived at a community pizza party in support of the anti-Lesniak team at a park in the Elmora section and shut it down.

All of this just goes to show that politics in New Jersey is indeed a blood sport, as anyone in Plainfield can tell you.

But I am troubled that the Ledger, which should be above the fray, looks so much like just one more arrow in the Lesniak quiver.

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• NJ Today:  "Dunn challenges Lesniak"
• PolitickerNJ --
• 05/12/2011:  "With NJEA poised to endorse upstarts, Lesniak calls in Clinton chit"
• 05/16/2011:  "Opponents' mailer questions Lesniak's party loyalty"
• 05/19/2011:  "ELEC questions dog LD 20 challengers"
• 05/20/2011:  "Booker, Healy throw support to Lesniak"
  
• 05/23/2011:  "Superior Court judge freezes funds of LD 20 challengers"

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Are Sharon and Vera the Lucy and Ethel of Plainfield politics?

What?! We're in the wrong neighborhood?

 

Are Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and Councilor Vera Greaves the Lucy and Ethel of Plainfield politics?

Greaves is Dem City Committee chair Jerry Green's handpicked candidate for the Wards 1&4 at-large seat.

She and Mayor Robinson-Briggs were spotted knocking on doors and distributing campaign literature on Friday -- in Ward 3, where Greaves IS NOT A CANDIDATE.

Channeling the late, great comedy couple?

Could be.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield BOE election results

Preliminary results of Wednesday's Plainfield Board of Education election --

Candidate	Tally
Edache	851
Surgeon	880
Cathcart	611
Hurtt	749
Budget Question	518 Yes 445 No

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Apologies to Reid, but questions remain

Following up on yesterday's post on the visit of Plainfield Council candidate Tony Rucker, Dwayne Wilkins and Councilor Bill Reid to 'Dee' Dameron's workplace (see here) --

First, apologies to Councilor Reid for misidentifying him as Mr. Rucker's campaign treasurer. Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Rucker have both cleared that up in comments made to that post;

Second, you will find that both Mr. Wilkins (in his comment to my post) and Mr. Rucker (in his post of today, see here) have laid out their version of events -- finally (this is the seventh day since the Town Hall meeting).

Third, while you will find that Messrs Rucker and Wilkins have issues with me and with Councilor Reid, you will not find a word of apology to Ms. Dameron for the discomfort the visit to her office caused her. (My mother taught me that sometimes you have to say you're sorry, even when you're not at fault.)

Fourth, none of this means that Reid's prior visit -- uninvited and unannounced -- to Ms. Dameron's workplace was anything less than highly inappropriate, if not part of a 'dirty trick' to put her in hot water with her employer.

Fifth, Mr. Wilkins did not hear, and Mr. Rucker fails to mention the advice I gave him after his explanation to Ms. Dameron: As a political candidate, one cannot simply assume one goes along blithely without asking questions of everyone and everything. I suggested the proper metaphor was 'defensive driving', trying to figure out what everyone else on the road is up to or likely to do, while at the same time operating  your vehicle safely and getting to where you are going. It ain't as simple as it sounds.

All this being said, some questions remain --

• Will Mr. Reid apologize to Ms. Dameron?
  
• Will Mr. Rucker avoid further gaffes?
  
• Will Dan ever stop needling?

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• Plainfield Today:  "Rucker part of Jerry's first dirty trick of 2011 campaign?"
  
• The Queen City Progressive:  "FOX News: Plainfield Style"
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rucker part of Jerry's first dirty trick of 2011 campaign?

In 'The Wizard of Oz', the man behind the curtain
tried to secretly run the show -- until he was unmasked.

An audible gasp went up from the audience when Council candidate 'Dee' Dameron got up to the microphone at the Plainfield City Council's Town Hall meeting last Wednesday and revealed that Councilor Bill Reid had come -- uninvited and unnannounced -- to her place of employment to harangue her about her run for the Council seat.

Not only that, Dameron continued, Reid reappeared at her job the day before the Town Hall with Ward 2 candidate Tony Rucker and his campaign manager Dwayne Wilkins in tow, to question her run for the Council seat yet again.

Dameron put Rucker, Reid and Wilkins (who by that time had left the meeting) on notice that any further attempted contacts by the three would be met with legal action, as she believed their intent was to harass and intimidate her and put her job at risk by coming to her workplace.

Once she resumed her seat, Rucker sprang to the microphone, rudely cutting in line in front of several waiting speakers, attempting to explain himself by saying he 'didn't know where he was'. Council President Annie McWilliams cut him off, noting he had had the floor twice before and telling him to take the matter up with Ms. Dameron on the side.

When McWilliams adjourned the meeting, Rucker went to Dameron and wanted to get her in a corner away from the crowd to explain  himself. Dameron pointed to a seat next to her and said she was fine with him talking right there in front of witnesses (myself and Dr. Inez Durham, Dameron's campaign manager).

The gist of Rucker's explanation was that he and Wilkins had run into Councilor Reid after coming out of the Plainfield Donut Shop and accompanied him to Dameron's nearby workplace.

When I asked him directly if he had business to take care of at her workplace, Rucker said 'no', but offered no explanation as to why he had gone there with Councilor Reid.

Dameron made it quite clear that she viewed the incident as an attempt to intimidate her and to put pressure on her in front of her employer in the hopes of provoking an incident with her employer or of pressuring her to withdraw from the campaign.

As I was leaving the Cedarbrook School, attendees were already buzzing about whether the visits by Rucker, Reid and Wilkins were part of a 'dirty trick' by Assemblyman Jerry Green, chair of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee.

Green had acknowledged being surprised by Dameron's appearance before the committee to explain her candidacy, so moves by Green to protect the candidacy of his handpicked candidate Vera Greaves are not unexpected. Reid's unannounced visit to Dameron's workplace happened the morning of April 11, the Monday following the City Committee meeting.

The Rucker, Reid and Wilkins visit occurred on Tuesday, April 19, the day before the Council's Town Hall meeting. Dameron told me that when she emerged from the ladies' room, she was told the three had specifically asked for her. Their attempt to harass Dameron was cut short by her appointment with a client.

Plainfield being the small town that it is, it quickly came out that Rucker was dissimulating. Far from 'running into' Councilor Reid, I have been told that Rucker, Reid and Wilkins were at Investor's Savings Bank together, opening Rucker's campaign account.

With Bill Reid as treasurer. Reid also happens to be the treasurer for Assemblyman Green's campaign committee as well as that of Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.

Has Jerry called in the first of an endless string of chits he will hold over Rucker's head?

What do you think?

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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